Present Long Past
by of untold secrets
Summary: Theirs was a story of love and hate, of silvered tongues and honeyed words, of darkness and death. To understand it all would be to do the impossible. But to be able to peek at what lay just below the surface, maybe, just maybe, that would be enough...


**Summary: Theirs was a story of love and hate, of silvered tongues and honeyed words, of darkness and death. To understand it all would be to do the impossible. But to be able to peek at what lay just below the surface, maybe, just maybe, that would be enough.**

**I have no idea where this came from...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own D N Angel**

* * *

'Once upon a time…there was a kingdom.

'A beautiful kingdom, one of the largest and most prosperous of that time. That is not to say, of course, that this realm was perfect. No! Though this empire was great, it was built upon the bones of evil. Of the darkness. And it was in this, that the king of this imperfect land revelled in.'

'But...what does this have to do with my question?'

'Shut up and listen, or do you not want it to be answered?'

'…'

'Good.

'Now, knowing that he was nearing the end of his life, the king began the training of two sons. Well…not really _sons_ in that sense of the word, but rather…heirs. Servants to do his bidding. Everyone in the kingdom knew of these children, and everyone remarked upon their beauty, on their perfection—for the king was not stupid and had spent what remained of his life shaping these sons to be the best.

'Eh…'sons' isn't really the right word. 'Twins' is closer, but still not quite right…

'No matter. Now then, on with the story.

'The king decided that on the first day of the new month, he would retire and appoint his two…_sons_…as king. Both being equally powerful, of course. Both being equally obedient.

'However, on the eve of this appointed date, the unforeseen stuck. A neighbouring kingdom, covetous of the king's riches, invaded the palace. In the turmoil, the old king was struck down and the leader of the invading kingdom was killed. The two sons managed to escape.'

* * *

"You will not escape this time, Dark!" the Inspector shouted through his loudspeaker, watching the shadowy figure flit from room to room within the museum.

"He said that last time, too, didn't he?" Dark muttered out loud, dashing up a flight of stairs. He grinned widely as he glimpsed the necklace in the room before him.

/Yeah, he did. And the time before that, and the time before that…/ Daisuke replied.

/You're cheerful tonight/ Dark remarked. /Wonder why? Maybe it has something to do with…hmm…Riku?/

/No! It's nothing like that/ Daisuke was blushing furiously in the back of his mind.

Dark grabbed the necklace from its stand, smirking when a blaring alarm began to sound.

/Well, there's our cue to leave/ he thought, tucking the necklace into a bag hanging from his belt. He took off at a dead sprint down a nearby corridor.

* * *

_To be, or not to be - that is the question..._

* * *

'The two sons ran out of the palace and into the city. One, the older brother, managed to travel all the way into the neighbouring kingdom—the one who had invaded his own. The other escaped detection by hiding within his own land.

'Many days passed…then weeks…then months. Both kingdoms were devastated by the invasion and neither brother knew what became of the other.

'The older brother managed to become a civil servant for the royal family of that kingdom. He travelled far and wide, bringing back riches and stories for the king and queen.

'The younger brother, on the other hand, eventually grappled his way to the top of his father's kingdom. He was the king of an influencial, extremely wealthy land. And yet, he was not happy. It was well known throughout the land that he was merely a puppet, a doll to warm the seat while his own nobles devised ways to rule the empire.

'On the second anniversary of the king's death, the older brother was on yet another of his journeys. It was night time, and he was making his way through the capital city of his father's kingdom when he noticed a brilliantly glowing building in the distance. It was the palace, of course.

'On impulse, he snuck his way into the palace, the world of his childhood.'

* * *

Dark slunk down another stone corridor, this one lined with oil paintings. He paused before one of them, the bag swinging at the sudden stop.

/Hey, that one looks pretty cool. Maybe I should steal it next time/ he thought to himself.

/Dark!/ Daisuke shouted, /Shouldn't we be getting a move on? You should be concentrating on escaping!/

/Yeah, yeah. Wait…what's that?/ Dark turned his head to stare at the warm glow that came from around the corner. Curiosity getting the better of him, he started forwards.

/DARK!/

Dark winced at Daisuke's shout. /I'm just taking a look/ he snapped /We'll be getting out soon enough/

/We'd better/ Daisuke warned.

* * *

_Two people sat on a bed together, one noticeably taller than the other. The sky was dark outside the window, and the house was silent._

"_Tell me a little about yourself," the shorter one said suddenly, voice cutting through the dull blackness. "Tell me about your past."_

"_Hmm…?" the taller turned to stare into wide, curious eyes._

"_You know almost everything about me," the shorter person explained quickly, looking at the ground. "And yet, I barely know anything about you."_

"_Mmm…" the taller one hesitated for a moment, the relented. "Fine."_

_There was a long pause, and the shorter one wondered if, perhaps the taller one had gone back on his promise and would not say anything at all. He jumped a little when, finally, the taller one began in a quiet murmur._

"_Once upon a time…there was a kingdom…"_

* * *

Dark rounded the corner warily, violet eyes narrowed against the golden radiance. Just as he was about to take a good look at whatever (or whoever) it was, the light disappeared.

In its place was Krad.

* * *

'The older brother snuck into the palace, hiding from guards and bypassing traps. On any other day, perhaps, he might have been caught, but on that particular day, everyone was far too busy having a party to notice the single trespasser among them.

'"A party!" The brother smirked. "Without me?"

'The party, he soon discovered, was in celebration of the ex-king's death (and the younger brother's coronation). The younger brother was, at the moment, attending a dance with Kiru, one of the most beautiful young maidens in the kingdom.

'The older brother, of course, knew that a new king had been crowned upon the death of the old. What he did not know was that this new king (and puppet, as he had often joked mockingly in the past) was actually his brother.

'He entered the ballroom and caught sight of his brother—who he had thought had died—dancing, a golden crown upon his head and Kiru, the most beautiful young maiden in the land, at his side. He realized instantly what had happened.

'And it was at that moment that the younger brother happened to turn around and come face to face with—who else?—but his elder sibling.'

* * *

"Krad?" Dark choked out, then pasted a cocky smirk on his face. "Fancy meeting you here." Great. A fight with his other self was one thing he definitely didn't need.

/I told you so/ Daisuke said, already starting to panic.

/Shut up. We'll make it out of this/ Dark replied.

/Alive, I hope/

Krad rose from his kneeling position on the floor. "Ah, Dark," he said, smiling. "I was hoping to meet you here."

Dark matched his other half, smile to smile and movement to movement. "Hello to you too," he said, ignoring Daisuke's yelled warnings. "Now, if you don't mind, could you perhaps step aside? I have an appointment with a certain museum exit over there." He gestured to the general area behind Krad.

Krad produced a white feather and gestured with it. "And what makes you think I would do that?"

Dark shrugged. "Oh I don't know. For old times' sake, maybe?"

Krad froze. "What?"

/What?/

* * *

_The free bird leaps  
on the back of the wind  
and floats downstream  
till the current ends  
and dips his wings  
in the orange sun rays  
and dares to claim the sky._

* * *

'And then what happened?' the shorter person—a boy, in fact—begged. 'What'd he do?'

The taller one shrugged. 'Talk? The conversation was far too long for this story, though, so let's just…move on with it…

'Well, okay. So the conversation wasn't _that_ long. But it sure had a very…colourful vocabulary which your mother would have my ears for if I repeated any of it.

'In a nutshell, they were shocked. And then, recovering from the sight, the younger brother shouted, "Intruder! Thief! There is an intruder in the palace!" and pulled out his sword.'

The shorter boy frowned. 'Why did he do that?'

His conpanion shrugged. 'Who knows? Maybe he was angry at his brother, maybe it was because he didn't want to share the throne. Maybe it was out of jealousy - the young king had hated his life.

'But you should know, since the invasion that previous year, the whole kingdom was being increasingly paranoid and suspicious of the neighbouring lands, especially that of which the older brother had come from. And of course, _everyone_ obeyed the king.

'So second later, a dozen guards rushed into the now-crowded ballroom. The older brother saw that he had no hope of quietly slinking away without a fight, and steeled himself for battle.

'Just then, the older brother caught a glimpse of an open window. An opening where he could run past all the guards and hopefully, to the neighboring kingdom that he had learned to call home. He sprinted for the opportunity to escape and, in his haste, shoved Kiru aside.

'He never knew the girl was so fragile! In that push, she fell and hit her head heavily upon the cold marble floor of the ballroom. A limp rag doll in a swirl of chaos. At this sight, the younger brother snarled and pounced upon his shocked brother, landing blows and knocking him to the ground, unconscious.'

* * *

_Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer_  
_The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,_  
_Or to take arms against a sea of troubles_  
_And, by opposing, end them._

* * *

/Don't hurt Satoshi!/ Daisuke cried.

/You mean Creepy Boy? I'll try not to, but it's hard/ Dark grunted, straining against the weight of Krad who was currently pinning him to the floor.

"What do you eat, Krad? Rocks?" he hissed in the blonde's face.

"It's not my fault you're weaker than I," Krad sneered. He held a glowing feather teasingly above Dark's head, making as if to drop it into the kaitou's eye. At the last moment, he changed direction and slammed it through Dark's wrist, instead.

Blood spurted out as bones were fractured, tendons frayed, and veins cut. Krad grinned at the sight.

Dark gritted his teeth at the pain of having his right arm literally nailed to the stone floor. He was in a bad position, and he knew it.

/Sorry Daisuke/ he said through their mental link.

/It's…okay…/ Daisuke panted. /Just escape from Krad…/

/In a moment.../

/Huh?/

Dark slammed his mental shields up. He'd spent lifetimes, literally, learning how to block all sights, all sensations, _everything_, from his tamer, and he employed it now.

/You don't need to feel this, Daisuke/ he thought. He received no answer.

* * *

_The girl…_the_ girl…_

_Eyes bright as sapphires and filled with perpetual laughter, hair like the darkest night. Pale skin, delicate bones, she was everything he'd have ever hoped for…_

_And even better, she loved _him_._

_She could have had any suitor in the kingdom, and yet she chose him. Him, a spineless orphan with uncontrollable power. Him, the pathetic puppet, the thing._

_Him._

_He, who knew nothing of love. Not from his father, the one who only knew of power and nothing else. Not from his brother, his twin, one who was as different from him as the sun and the moon._

_He tried the best he could to reciprocate her devotion. He couldn't even imagine a world without her._

_That is, until she was ripped away from him. Until she was forcibly wrenched from his arms by no other than _him_. His brother._

_Was it fate? Or maybe simply a foreshadowing of things to come._

_But none of that mattered. She was gone, and that was all that mattered._

_Gone…_

_…Forever._

_Because of _him_._

* * *

_But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams_  
_his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream_  
_his wings are clipped and his feet are tied  
__So he opens his throat to sing_

* * *

Dark gathered his magic in the palm of his free hand and, with an effort, blasted Krad off him. The moment the weight lifted, he leapt up, ripping his arm off the ground, biting back a scream. He pulled out the blood-stained feather and threw it to the had collapsed against the opposite wall of the hallway. His amber eyes flickered when Dark approached.

Dark pressed a feather against Krad's forehead. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you," he hissed.

Krad's slightly-dazed eyes abruptly focused, and he smiled a smile a cat may reserve for a cornered mouse.

"You couldn't kill anyone, Dark," he said. "You're too weak to do it."

Dark's eyes darkened. "…Except for her," he murmured, so quietly there was no doubt that it was only to himself.

Krad could feel the familiar sensation of rage build in his chest. "Yes," he agreed, struggling to keep his voice level. "Except for her."

Dark opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. He glanced down the hallway, then back at the mending body of Krad.

"I'm…I'm sorry," he whispered, in a hushed voice so low, Krad wasn't sure he'd heard right.

The kaitou disappeared in the maze of winding hallways and rooms that made up the museum, leaving a chagrined hunter behind.

* * *

Him.

His brother. No, his other half.

One depended on the other; one could not exist without the counterpart.

_Exist_, not _live_.

For theirs was not truly life. Nor, as some would argue, was it an existence either.

To be wholly dependant on a Tamer, to live for a couple of years in each generation, to be half of something and yet half of someone else. How was this an existence?

That doesn't mean he could not _not _despise his other self, though.

Krad. What a stupid name.

It was not everything, but it was part of it.

After all, who wants to be named after one's enemy?

He truly hated that thief. That kaitou stole everything from him. _Everything_.

And he would never forgive him.

Krad. Dark. One the darkness, one the light.

But who was who?

And more importantly, did it matter?

* * *

Dark panted as he flew over the city.

/…Dark?/

Oh right. Daisuke. He'd almost forgotten about that boy.

Huh. His shields must have collapsed.

/Dark? Are you okay?/

/I'm…I'm fine, Daisuke./

He snarled as With began to lag.

"No!"

With an effort, he pushed himself forwards, losing height by the second. His vision, blurry from loss of blood, began to dim.

Later that night, Daisuke's mother found him in a crumpled heap on Daisuke's balcony.

* * *

His other self? What about him?

For as long as he knew…Krad had always been there. Just…there. Sometimes as his rival. Sometimes as his enemy. Sometimes as his…friend.

Once, a long, long time ago, as his friend.

But that was the past, and the past would never return.

He was sorry. For everything.

But the past won't repeat itself, and Krad would never forget what happened. Would never forgive him.

Ever.

* * *

'The older brother was captured and imprisoned in the deepest, darkest part of the palace. In there, he learned what he had done.

'Darkness was all he knew then.

'But then…anger took its place. Anger at his younger brother, anger at his situation, anger at himself.

'And it was with this uncontrollable, undecipherable anger, he escaped from the palace. Escaped from…everything.

'He ran away from everything.

'But not without leaving something of himself. A memento. A promise to his brother, if you could call it that.

'A single black feather.'

* * *

_The caged bird sings_  
_with a fearful trill_  
_of things unknown_  
_but longed for still_  
_and his tune is heard_  
_on the distant hill_  
_For the caged bird_  
_sings of freedom. _

* * *

The bloodstains eventually came out of the bathroom tiles. Emiko made sure of that.

* * *

_"Dark? I was wondering...why do you and Krad always fight? Maybe you could tell me the reason…one day."_

* * *

/Krad? You seem unusually quiet today. Is it because of yesterday's fight with Dark?/

/It's nothing, Master Satoshi/

* * *

"…You know, Dark, you tell a good story. I...I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Aren't the brothers in the story you and Krad?"

"Maybe."

"Dark! Do you try to be as irritating as possible, or are you just like that naturally?"

"Haha…maybe."

"Dark!"

* * *

_Krad…I'm sorry. Really, I am…_

* * *

The caged bird sings

The free bird runs

On and on

and on

* * *

Dark and light.

Light and dark.

Destined to forever fight against each other.

They didn't know how to do anything else.

* * *

**Hmm...that was interesting? Probably pretty confusing and kind of OOC, but I hoped you liked it ^^**

**The poetry pieces are from _I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings_ by Maya Agelou. The other quotish parts are from Shakespeare's _Hamlet_.**

**Feedback will be appreciated!**


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